Abuga Pele, former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Chiana-Paga Constituency who was jailed and later granted presidential pardon, says the truth about his incarceration will come out one day.
Speaking in public for the first time since his release from prison a couple of weeks ago, on Saturday, August 21, at his hometown Paga–Nakolo in the Upper East Region, Mr. Abuga Pele would not say much about what led to his imprisonment, except to say, “the truth, as has been said often, will surely come out one day.”
He, however, used the occasion to thank God and President Nana Akufo-Addo for his release from prison.
“I thank the people of Nakolo, I thank all the people who were instrumental in getting me out of prison”,.
He assured the gathering that a day will come when he would narrate his incarceration story in detail.
The former MP was said to have been sentenced on the grounds of having acted in a manner that resulted in the loss of GH¢4.1 million by the government, after businessman Phillip Akpeena Assibit had made false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth.
According to details of the judgment, Mr. Pele was found guilty on two counts of abetment of fraud and five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, and received six years for abetment of fraud and four years for wilfully causing financial loss to the state, to be served concurrently.
The former defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) national coordinator was sentenced by an Accra High Court in 2018, but was granted presidential pardon by President Akufo-Addo due to ill health in July this year.
By: Adua-Saah Abugah